Who's laughing now?
by Anyfey
Summary: Maura always had a hard time with her peers. Will a move to Boston finally bring her peace and friends? This was originally written for the rizzlesfanficchallenge on tumblr. The theme was "laughter"


**Who's laughing now?**

Ever since Maura could remember she was ridiculed and laughed at simply for the fact that she was smart and enjoyed reading and learning new things over running around outside and playing with dolls.

"The proportions of this doll are totally wrong. If this doll was human she wouldn't even be able to lift her head." Maura said to one of her peers when she was 10 as she looked at one of the Barbie dolls the girl was playing with during recess. The girl and her friends looked at Maura in confusion. "Is that so smartypants? Nobody cares, Maura the bora" the girl said started laughing and all the girls around her joined in and started to chant "Maura the bora, Maura the bora".

And similar scenes like this would always happen whenever Maura shared one of her random and, to her peers, very useless facts. She was alone most of her time, only when her parents had friends over with kids she would have someone to play with. But mostly those forced play dates also ended in Maura being laughed at.

When Maura was 15 her mother finally noticed that Maura was more than unhappy but she had no idea what she could do to help her. Although she knew Maura loved living in London, she decided that a change of scenery would be good for her daughter. And so the Isles moved to Boston, where Constance hoped the kids would be more accepting and Maura would be able to make friends.

But so far, in the 3 months they've been living in Boston now, nothing has changed. Maura was still spending most of her evenings in the library, alone. And even though Maura was used to being alone and really enjoyed it at times she wished she had a friend. She wished she had someone to talk to other than her mother and the maid, as nice as she was. Maura just couldn't see this happen anytime soon since no one in her new school has even talked to her yet. But at least none of her peers was picking on her … yet. Maura was sure it would come sometime. After they got to know her a little better and see how she really is.

And that day came faster than Maura thought it would. She was walking through the dining hall to the desk she was usually sitting at, alone of course, when suddenly she heard a girl, who looked like she belonged to the popular clique shout "Look there's Maura the bora".

Maura rolled her eyes. How are kids always coming up with this "nickname". It didn't even make sense.

She simply ignored it and hoped it wouldn't stick. But of course it did and after just two days the whole school was calling her that name again. She would hear the laughter every time she passed a group of kids. "She's so weird" she heard people say. "She actually enjoyed dissecting that frog" another girl would say.

After a couple of cool kids threw spitballs at her in her AP history class, she just couldn't handle it anymore and broke down crying in the toilet. As she heard a girl enter the restroom she stopped crying immediately. The last thing she needed right now was for someone to see her crying. She left her stall.

"Your name's Maura, right?" the tall girl said. Maura nodded, wondering why this girl knew her name.

"I'm Jane. We have history together" Jane said. "They got you pretty good" she continued and pulled spitball after spitball out of Maura's hair.

"Thank you!" Maura said as Jane was finished. "I … I should go now." she continued.

"Wait, I come with you. They won't say anything to you anymore if I'm with you." Jane said grabbing Maura's arm.

As soon as they got out of the restroom a boy was running towards them. "Hey frog face, what are you doing with Maura the bora?"

"Shut the hell up, Grant. And don't call her that ever again." Jane snapped at the boy.

As Joey just smiled dumbly she added "Do you understand? And you better tell everyone that if someone messes with Maura again I will be after them, like I was after those guys who thought it was funny to bombard her with spitballs earlier today."

Joey just nodded and was gone.

"Why are you doing this?" Maura asked.

"Because nobody deserves to be treated like that and I think that you are the only decent person in this school."

"How can you think that? We have never talked."

"I just know, okay?"

"Okay, I guess…. and thank you!" Maura smiled.

From that day on, Maura and Jane were inseparable. They did everything together. Maura finally had a friend. And every day that past Maura was called names less and less.

One day, only two weeks before Junior prom, Joey Grant and Giovanni Gilberti came up to Maura and Jane, who were just eating their lunch.

"So we were wondering if you guys would maybe go to prom with us." Joey asked.

"Hmmm.. what do you think Maura?"

"I don't know… I thought I was boring."

"Oh come on, you can't still be bitter about that." Giovanni said "That's long past. And you are really hot. You too, Jane." he continued.

Jane rolled her eyes. "We'll think about it, okay?"

Joey and Giovanni sighed. "Okay, but fast." Joey said and then both guys left.

"Please don't say you seriously consider it." Maura said almost frightened as she was sure that the boys couldn't hear her anymore.

"No! Oh god no! I'm just messing with them. Can you imagine me and Joey. Vomit. And you and Giovanni? I went out with him once. He wanted to lick my face."

"He what?" Maura asked.

"Yeah he said he wanted to lick my face."

Maura couldn't hold it back any longer. She burst into laughter.

"That's not funny, Maura" Jane protested at first but eventually joined in. Soon the whole dining hall was looking at them but they didn't care. Maura didn't care at all. She had never laughed so hard in her life. And finally she was the one laughing with someone over something the other people had no idea about. Finally she had a reason to laugh. Finally she wasn't alone.


End file.
